Dishwasher



H. GELLER Nov. 8, 1960 DISHWASHER Filed May 26, 1958 FIG. I

INVENTOR. HARRY GELLER BY 72 9 mi HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent2,959,357 DISHWASHER Harry Geller, Louisville, Ky., assignor to GeneralElec- Company, a corporation of New York Fi led May 26, 1958, Ser. No.737,648, 3 Claims. (Cl. 239-220) This invention relates to dishwashers,and more particularly' to amachi'ne of this character having improved usfor impelling or'sp r'a'yin'g water withint he washing mberl. .7 v, lgeneral object of this invention is to provide a dish! washed-"includingimproved "means for circulating high velocity streams of waterthroughout the washing chamber bf therdishwasher; H. l 1 Anotherobject'of the invention is to provide a dishwasher havingimproved meansfor spraying high velocity rotating sheets of water within the washingchamber. of the dishwasher. I i 1 Further objects and advantages of thisinvention will become apparent as the following description proceeds,and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will bepointedout with particularity in the claims annexed to and. forming apart of this specification.

Briefly stated, in accordance with one aspect of this invention thereisprovided a di shwatsher including a rotary impeller surrounded wasfreely rotatable 'cyl hdr ical bafiie having a'n'elongate d openingtherein through which a sheet of water is discharged when the impelleris rotating, it being understood that the baffle is arranged to admitwater at the rate at which it is discharged. Rotation of the impellercauses rotary movement of the body of water within the baffle, and thisin turn induces relatively slow rotary movement of the baffle so thatthe sheet of water discharged therefrom moves in a rotating pattern, sothat there is, in effect, a water coupling connecting the impeller andthe baffie.

For a better understanding of this invention reference may be made tothe following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation view, partially in section, of a dishwasherembodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 22 inFig. 1, some of the parts being broken away.

Referring to the drawing, the dishwasher illustrated therein includes awashing chamber 1 defined by a top wall 2, a rear wall 3, side walls 4and 5 and a generally concave bottom wall 6. Thus washing chamber 1 isgenerally rectangular in configuration, and includes a front openingprovided with a peripheral sealing gasket 7 and a door 8 which is hingedor otherwise secured to the dishwasher frame so as to permit accessthrough the door opening to chamber 1. Bottom wall 6 forms a sump inwhich the water impeller means of the present invention is located.

A dish holding rack 9 is arranged to be supported within washing chamber1, and as illustrated in Fig. 1 the rack may be constructed so as torest on bottom wall 6 and to support a number of dishes in the positionsindicated by broken lines. Preferably, rack 9 is so arranged that thedishes are supported in such a way that their inner or top surfaces aredirectly exposed to streams of water impelled upwardly from the sump atthe bottom of the washing chamber.

Mounted in the sump formed by the configuration of; bottom"wall 6 is anelongated impeller 19 w ch as shown in Fig. 1 i 'generally S -shaped incross section. Impeller 10 is supported for rotation on a her t al axisgenerally parallel to the longitudinal arris of the sump by means of endshafts 11 and 12 which are fixedly secured to the ends of the impellerand are arranged to rotate in' suitable bearings secured in side wallsand 5 of the washing chamber. Thus, as shown in F g. 2-, shaft 11 issupported in bearing 13 which is secured to side wall 5, and it will beunderstood that shaft 12' is supported in a similar manner. Secured tothe end of shaft ll is a pulley 14 which cooperates with pulley secured'to the shaft of motor 1 6 and belt 17 to fortn a drive system forrotating impeller 10. lvlotor 1s mounted in a compa'rtnient below washingchamber 1, which is formed by 'a' 'fr ont wall 18, a rear wall 3, tomwall 19 andslde walls 20 and 21. In accordance with the presentinvention, impeller is surrounded by an elo'n gated cylindrical baffle22 freely mounted forrotation'about the rotary axis of the intpellet.Thus the end portions of baffle 22 may be formed as illustrated in Fig.2, so as to include an annular end 'wall 23 and a sleeve portion 24arranged to engage the outer surface of bearing 1 3:. Baffle 22 isprovided with a pair of diametrically opposing arrially aligned openings25' and 26 which preferably extend along the entire length of: thebaffle. As will presently be descr bed, openings 25 and 26 alternatelyfunction as entrance openings for admitting water to the area swept by1n lc' it an e t spellings hrq sh w i a r a. 91.." polled from thebattle into the washing chamber.

Water for washing operations may be supplied to washing chamber 1byi'anyv suitable means sueh asa water inlet valve 27 connected in a'water supply line 28 which supplies water to an inlet nozzle 29.Similarly, suitable means for discharging water from washing chamber 1are provided such as a drain pipe 30 connected to the bottom of the sumpformed by bottom wall 6 and also to a drain valve 31. It will beunderstood that impeller 10 and baffle 22 are arranged to operatepartially submerged in water as indicated by the water level shown in Fi1.

In operation, after the dishes or other articles to be washed have beenplaced on rack 9 and door 8 moved to its closed position, water isadmitted to washing chamber 1 through inlet nozzle 29 so as to supplysufiicient water to the chamber to partially submerge rotary bafiie 22.Motor 16 is then energized and by means of pulleys 14 and 15 and belt 17drives impeller 10 at a relatively high speed (1700 r.p.m., for example)in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1. Rotation of theimpeller 10 causes rotary movement of the water in the zone swept by theimpeller, and the resulting movement of the water induces relativelyslow rotation of bafile 22, it being understood that the rapidlyrotating mass of water therein produces sufficient frictional forcealong the inner surface of the bafiie to cause rotation thereof. Thiseffect may be described as a water coupling connecting the impeller andthe baflie as distinguished from separate drive motors and link or geardrives mechanically connecting the impeller to the baffle. At the sametime water within the baffle is expelled through either opening 25 oropening 26, depending upon which opening is above the water level. Theopposite opening in battle 22 which is below the water level functionsas an inlet opening through which water is admitted to the zone swept byimpeller 10. In practice, it has been found that a high velocity sheetof water is discharged through the uppermost opening in bafiie 22 andthat this sheet of water sweeps or rotates across the upper space withinthe washing chamber so that the articles supported on rack 9 aresubjected to a constantly moving stream of water.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of myinvention, I do not desire the invention to be limited to the particularconstruction disclosed, and I intend by the appended claims to cover allmodifications within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a dishwashing machine comprising a washing chamber, an elongatedimpeller adapted to be partially submerged in water in said chamber,means for rotating said impeller, and a cylindrical bafiie surroundingsaid impeller, said bafile having inlet openings that are positionedbelow the water level for admitting water into the zone swept by saidimpeller and outlet openings above the water level through which wateris expelled during rotation of said impeller, said bafile being freelymounted for rotation about the rotary axis of said impeller, wherebyrotary movement of water within said baffle induced by rotation of saidimpeller causes continuous rotation of said baffie at a speedsubstantially lower than the speed of rotation of said impeller so thatthere is in eflect a water coupling connecting the impeller and thebafiie, the baffle rotating in the water causing the openings toalternately pass through the water in the chamber, the opening above thewater serving as an outlet opening while the opening below the waterserves as an inlet opening, both the inlet and outlet openings extendingfor substantially the entire length of the bafile.

2. In a dishwashing machine comprising a washing chamber including aconcave bottom wall forming a sump, an elongated rotary impeller mountedin said chamber for rotation partially submerged in water about an axisparallel to the longitudinal axis of said sump, means for rotating saidimpeller, and an elongated cylindrical baflie surrounding said impeller,said bafile having a pair of diametrically opposed openings thereinwhich extend for substantially the entire length of the battle, saidbafile being freely mounted for rotation about the rotary axis of saidimpeller, whereby rotation of said impeller causes the water to drivethe bafile in the same direction as the impeller but at a relativelyslow rate and it also discharges a moving stream of water from one ofsaid openings which is above the water while the other opening is underwater.

3. In a dishwashing machine comprising a washing chamber including aconcave bottom wall member defining a sump, an elongated impellermounted in said sump for rotation partially submerged in water on ahorizontal axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of saidsump, means for rotating said impeller, an elongated cylindrical baffiesurrounding said impeller, said bafile having a pair of diametricallyopposing axially aligned openings therein which extend for substantiallythe entire length of the baflie, each of said openings being defined bya first axially aligned edge portion of said bafile and a second axiallyaligned edge portion of said bafile, said first and second edge portionsbeing swept by said impeller in the order just named, each of said firstedge portions being bent outwardly from the cylindrical surface of saidbaffie, said baflle being freely mounted for rotation about the rotaryaxis of said impeller, whereby rotary movement of water within saidbafiie induced by rotation of said impeller causes continuous rotationof said baflle at a speed substantially lower than the speed of rotationof said impeller and said impeller discharges a continuously movingsheet of water from one of said openings as it moves through an areabove the water level in said sump.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,317,014 Yochem Apr. 20, 1943 2,353,368 Schulz July 11, 1944 2,710,617James et al. June 14, 1955

